Sunday, April 7, 2013

Game 6: Nats at Reds

Photo by Mark Zuckerman / NATS INSIDER

Stephen Strasburg faces Johnny Cueto in today's series finale.

CINCINNATI -- This was billed as a big-time series when the Nationals arrived in town on Friday, and through two games it's certainly lived up to its reputation. The Reds steamrolled the Nats, 15-0, in Game 1. The Nationals won a wild, 7-6, 11-game yesterday. Now comes the decisive finale, with a big-time pitching matchup: Stephen Strasburg vs. Johnny Cueto.

"Two of the best teams in the National League, and we've got our aces going in the rubber match of the series," right fielder Jayson Werth said. "This is what it's all about. This is why you play. This is why people pay to see us play."

The latest Adam LaRoche update: He's out of the lineup again, but he said he woke up this morning feeling "a lot better." He was thinking about trying to convince Davey Johnson to let him play today, but at worst he fully expects to be in the lineup Tuesday against the White Sox.

Full story on LaRoche's status coming up, and plenty of updates and analysis on the game right here...

1:16 p.m. -- A couple of sharp singles from Denard Span and Bryce Harper off Cueto in the top of the first, but they were countered by a couple of groundballs to short from Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman. The Werth grounder resulted in a 6-4-3 double play, so the Nats weren't able to really get anything going there. Scoreless top of the first, here's Stephen Strasburg for the bottom of the inning.

1:28 p.m. -- Well, that didn't go quite as Strasburg would've hoped. The Reds touched him up for three runs in the bottom of the first, even though only one base hit left the infield. He hurt his own cause by trying to snag Xavier Paul's chopper to his left. Had he let it go through, Danny Espinosa would've made an easy play. But by deflecting it, Espinosa had no chance. A walk to Joey Votto put two on, then Zimmerman made a great diving stop of Brandon Phillips' hard smash ... but couldn't get the ball out of his glove. So now the bases were loaded with one out, at which point Jay Bruce poked a Strasburg curveball into left-center field for a two-run double. Throw in an RBI groundout by Todd Frazier, and just like that the Reds lead 3-0 after one, and Strasburg has already thrown 23 pitches.

1:47 p.m. -- I guess Wilson Ramos isn't the only Nationals catcher capable of posing a power threat at the plate, huh? Kurt Suzuki absolutely destroyed a 1-1 pitch from Cueto into the left-field bleachers for a three-run homer in the top of the second, tying this game right back up 3-3. So much for a pitchers' duel here: 11 of the game's first 18 batters reached base safely. Sheesh.

1:57 p.m. -- As a general rule of thumb, you probably don't want to give up a two-out single to Xavier Paul and then take your chances with Joey Votto up and two men on base. Strasburg, though, somehow did it in the bottom of the second. After putting himself in a huge jam, he took on one of the game's elite hitters and struck him out on an absolutely devastating, 88 mph changeup. Seriously, that might've been the single best pitch Strasburg has ever thrown in his life. It broke like a left-hander's slider. Unreal. 3-3 after two very entertaining innings here.

2:14 p.m. -- The Reds are really making Strasburg work here today. He's put nine men on base through three innings, and his pitch count is already up to 60 (40 strikes). He's avoided any more damage since the bottom of the first, but he's not anywhere near as efficient today as he was on Opening Day. Still 3-3 as we move to the fourth.

2:29 p.m. -- Now Suzuki doubles, so he's got six total bases in two at-bats today. And Span drew another walk. Sure, Michael Morse may have five homers in the season's first week, but Span already has seven walks, so...

2:37 p.m. -- Strasburg strikes out Votto again in the fourth, though this time on a 95 mph fastball. He's through four innings on 73 pitches (46 strikes). Meanwhile, Desmond appeared to hurt his left hand while trying to tag Paul out on a stolen base attempt. He stayed in, but that hand clearly is barking. Still 3-3 after four.

2:55 p.m. -- Strasburg has settled down nicely since the first couple of innings, but he's still at 92 pitches through five innings. He's due up fourth in the top of the sixth, and there does appear to be some stirring in the Nats' bullpen. Interesting decision here for Davey. Still a 3-3 game.

3:07 p.m. -- Well, Strasburg was allowed to hit for himself, with two outs and a man on second. (He struck out.) So Davey is letting him top 100 pitches today. Onto the bottom of the sixth, still 3-3 here in Cincy.

3:33 p.m. -- That did not go well at all. The Reds scored three times in the bottom of the sixth even though they only got the ball out of the infield three times. The big play came with runners on first and third, nobody out and Paul at the plate in what was still a 3-3 game at the time. Paul roped a hard grounder right at Espinosa, but rather than take an easy 4-6-3 double play, he tried to get Derrick Robinson at the plate. His throw was a bit offline, and the speedy Robinson scored the go-ahead run, leaving two on, still nobody out and Votto at the plate. Bad decision by Espinosa. In that situation, especially still in the sixth inning, it would've been much better to just give up the run and take the easy double play to clear the bases with two outs for Votto. That really backfired, because Phillips followed with an RBI single to left, ending Strasburg's day at 114 (second-most he's ever thrown). Ryan Mattheus entered and allowed another run to score on an infield single. So after all that, the Nats now trail 6-3 with three innings to go.

3:54 p.m. -- Nice job by Mattheus to pitch out of a jam in the bottom of the seventh, striking out Phillips with two on and two out. So it remains a 6-3 game, and the Nats are down to their last six outs. Jonathan Broxton on the mound now for the Reds, with Aroldis Chapman looming large in the bullpen.

4:01 p.m. -- A 1-2-3 eighth inning for Broxton. Nats first basemen are now a collective 1-for-22 with seven strikeouts this season. If the Nationals are going to win this one, they're going to have to score at least three times off Chapman in the ninth. That's a tall task.

4:08 p.m. -- Here we go: It's the bottom of the order against Chapman, who enters to a thunderous roar here.

4:18 p.m. -- Game over. The Nats lose 6-3 and lose the series, two games to one. There's no shame in dropping a road series to the Reds, but they won't be happy with the way they played today.

perspective dweeb said...Ramos should be playing today.. stick w the hot hand

this what Phil wood and Mike Wallace discussed before opening day. This is one of the good problems to have. Both Phil and Mike felkt that at some point in the summer and down the stretch, Davey will have to pick one if one is hot but not now in April or May. Also, Kurt will always catch Gio.

I'm staying out of the game thread -- I hear it's a dangerous neighborhood -- but I'm making my 2013 seasonal debut on NI today. The bourbon and Maalox supply has been restocked after going completely empty the past couple of games. Cheers!

Soup, Tyler's doing the job the organization needs him to do right now - he's the RH power guy off the bench. If you asked him I guarantee you he'd rather be doing that than playing every day in AAA. And Chad Tracy is a professional hitter and under-appreciated defensively - the stretch he made on the DP yesterday saved the Nats a run. Tyler will get some ABs, but throwing him out there against Cueto for his first start of the season isn't really fair, especially with that funky wind-up.

Hello everyone. I am a long time lurker. I decided to start posting every now and again. I am Nationals fans and I am trying to increase my knowledge of them and baseball in general. But with school and work, it is hard.

Because if he starts hitting like Jay Bruce ... then what? Who do you take out of the lineup? Someone will have play poorly enough that they remove them and put them on the DL thus saving face. Let's face it every one of these guys will have some injury before the season is done.

Part of this is that Moore really isn't the backup 1st bagger Tracy is. This season Moore is an outfielder. And why is he an outfielder? Because he's too good, the Nats look at the same stats that I do. Zimmerman is moving to first base so that Anthony Rendon can play third base. Outfield slots should open up in the next two years plus there will be injuries.

But, as Natslady will tell you, Tyler Moore isn't the best fielder out there and he still needs some time to become, like Josh Willingham, reasonably decent out there. He probably needed to spend some time in AAA working on that but Davey wanted him on his 25-man.

Moore is basically still a prospect with some interesting potential. At some point he is going to play and he will take advantage of the opportunity.

And yes. then there's Rendon ... and Kobernus is up in Syracuse hitting like an All Star. I think he's hitting .700. I guess he liked the idea of being in the major leagues while he was with the Tigers.

There are going to be LOTS of prospects pushing at guys like LaRoche, Werth, and Span as well as younger guys like Desmond, Espinosa and Lombardozzi over the next 2-3 years.

After that, unless a miracle happens, the minors will have some pretty bare cupboards position prospect wise. But there should be plenty of pitching.

Rizzo, Clark, et al are going to have be fairly clairvoyant over these next two seasons. Some really tough decisions are on the horizon. I hope that will include Davey either managing or as a part of the FO.

Hey folks - figured this might be a good forum to ask the following - anyone in this group a Rotisserie Baseball aficionado? It looks like my league (AL only, so you don't ever need to root against a Nats player - well, OK - interleague, maybe) has an opening. I am posting here because I know there is some baseball IQ in this group and those are the most fun people to have in a rotisserie league...

Go Nats! Shut down that Little Red Toy Model! (OK, YOU come up with something more opposite of Big Red Machine!)

Oh and by the way peric detractors ... (like NJack in the box). Guess who's doing really well in Harrisburg so far? Trevor Holder. That's right the guy everyone claimed was a sign-ability pick from the Georgia Bulldogs. Their ace and college world series veteran.

What's with this ump -- he can't see a ball at the knees? Why isn't Moore playing? As a poster said yesterday: Moore is the future -- Tracy is just a fill in pinch hitter whose lucky to be here at all. Two days in a row now. All for Davey's silly penchant for L/R combos. Boy, I am, not a Davey fan.

I still say .500 this year. When we were 3-0 I was still saying that, not here, but still saying it. We need consistent batting and stop bone-head plays. Well, we are still in a learning curve. Go Nats.

Rabbit, we had the best record last year. Going to .500 is regression, not learning, or was last year a one-off? If so, then why the hell did we sit Stras? The idea was we'd be back again. Early in the season, so I'm not ready to say the sky is falling. But damn, I'm in a sour mood right now.

Everyone needs to calm down. It's early in the season and the nats are 4-2. I like the way the nats bounced back after Friday. Some good signs, Espi looks much better at the plate, and Suzuki looks good. Stras will bounce back after a sub par performance. Upshot: way too early to be getting gray hairs.

Steve Hayes and Manassas Nats Fan (and everybody else, for that matter): If you don't mind, could you try to condense your thoughts into fewer posts? Instead of posting one line every 60 seconds, maybe wait five minutes and string together several thoughts? I think everyone would appreciate it because it makes it easier to read and keep up with what everyone is saying.

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About the Author

Mark Zuckerman has covered the Nationals since the franchise arrived in D.C. He's been a member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America since 2001 and is a Hall of Fame voter. Email mzuckerman@comcastsportsnet.com.